Big boom of New Yorkers moving to Florida in 1990s

After years of teaching in New York City, Jeffrey and Ellen Berson pulled up stakes in 1996 and moved to Florida.

They were among 308,230 people who moved from New York state to Florida from 1995 to 2000, the largest state-to-state flow in the United States, the U.S. Census reported Wednesday.

Florida's net domestic migration of 607,000, the largest of any state, came primarily from states in the northeast, including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Ohio. New Jersey contributed 118,905 Florida residents in the period, the Census reported.

When the Bersons were offered buyouts from their jobs in New York City schools, they looked at several places to move, including Washington and North Carolina, but chose South Florida. Their reasons included the low cost of living, lack of state income taxes, their familiarity with the region and the fact they had relatives already living in Florida, Ellen Berson said.

Besides, she added, "I am a beach and sun person."

Since moving to Aventura in suburban Miami in 1996, Jeffrey Berson has gone back to teaching, as a tutor and substitute teacher, but Ellen Berson said she is working part-time in another field.

"I was disillusioned with my job in New York," she said.

Stanley K. Smith, director of the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Florida, said New Yorkers have been flocking to Florida since the 1950s and the trend continues.

The reasons residents from the Empire State come to Florida are much they same reasons as others move here, Smith said.

"They are coming for jobs and they are coming for warm weather," he said.

Despite the perception that the only people moving to Florida are retirees, Smith said more of Florida's new residents are people in their 20's and 30's, coming here because of job growth.

Meanwhile, Floridians who moved out of state most often chose Georgia and North Carolina. From 1995 to 2000, 157,423 Floridians moved to Georgia, 96,255 to North Carolina. Ohio attracted 90,833 people from Florida, while 47,389 residents of Ohio moved to the Sunshine State.

And regardless of where they came from, Florida had a net gain of 149,000 residents age 65 and over from other states, more than any other state.